French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of social and political upheaval in France that lasted from the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 to the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. The revolution saw the Third Estate - the middle and lower classes - overthrow the Kingdom of France in 1789 and replace it with a constitutional monarchy, later storming the Tuileries Palace in 1792 and creating a republic when King Louis XVI of France attempted to flee to Flanders. King Louis and his wife Marie Antoinette of France were beheaded by guillotine in 1793, as were several other monarchists or "counter-revolutionaries" during the "Reign of Terror", executed by Maximilien de Robespierre. In 1794, after thousands of random people had been executed by the insane Robespierre and the radical "Jacobin Club", the people rose up in the "Thermidorian Reaction" and had Robespierre and his Jacobins executed, ending the Reign of Terror. From 1794 to 1799, France would be ruled by a directorate and a consulate, not by a single person.

France's new republic would be invaded by the Austrian Empire and Prussia in 1792, with the European monarchies fearing that revolutions would occur in their own countries. However, the French succeeded in defeating the Austrians and taking over the Austrian Netherlands in 1793, and French nationalists declared war on Great Britain, Spain, and the United Provinces that same year. The French Revolutionary Wars would last until 1799, and they would see France conquer almost all of Europe west of the Rhine River, create the new "Batavian Republic" vassal state in the Netherlands, and conquer northern Italy from Austria. The French general Napoleon Bonaparte made a name for himself, and he became so popular that he was able to seize power in Paris in the "Coup of 18 Brumaire" in November of 1799. It would not be long before he proclaimed himself "Emperor", and the revolutionary democracy in France would come to an end.

The French Revolution, which had itself been inspired by the American Revolutionary War six years earlier, was one of the most important periods in history. It led to the rise of democracy as a major political ideology, led to women gaining more rights, led to the abolition of the slave trade (France outlawed slavery itself in 1791), and opened a chapter in European history that would come to be known as the "Napoleonic Wars", which themselves led to the decolonization of the Americas, the spread of French culture, and the rise of the Napoleonic military doctrine (regiments were now organized into divisions, corps, and armies) across the world.